Great post! I just wonder how the Galactic Republic / Empire ever managed to wield the power it did given the ridiculously small size of its armed forces relative to its size? The clone army had at the most 1.2 million troops for a period of several years, but given population estimates for the Star Wars galaxy, the Emperor would need 270 Trillion uniformed soldiers to approach Earth's militarization rate. On that measure, the Star Trek Federation has a much more realistically-sized armed forces. See http://jointstock.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/star-wars-what-army/

Assuming that one is looking for them, it is fairly easy to find internet arguments that stem from comparisons among and between science fiction universes, and a great many of these arguments center on comparing governments within those universes. Which government is more democratic: Star Wars' ...